New York City Council Wants Community Engagement to Lead Affordable Housing Development

New York Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams have proposed very different responses to the city’s lack of affordable housing.

2 minute read

December 21, 2022, 6:00 AM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Multicolored four-story New York City buildings with storefronts on ground floor

Andrew F. Kazmierski / New York City apartment buildings

The New York City Council released the new “Planning and Land Use Guidelines & Application Toolkit on December 15. The toolkit is intended to produce more community benefits from the land use application process and develop more affordable units.

“The Planning and Land Use Toolkit lists several items the council believes should be considered in each land use decision, such as: expanding engagement with communities, getting the most affordable housing out of each project, offering well-paying jobs to area residents and bettering open space and the streetscape,” according to an article by Ethan Stark-Miller for Brownstoner.

According to a statement by Council Speaker Adrienne Adams that precedes the toolkit, the New York  City Council “is seeking to elevate the role of planning in the land use process.”

The announcement followed just a week after Mayor Eric Adams announced a “Get Stuff Built” plan for housing in the city.

“While the council and the administration are vying to tackle the same issue, in releasing his plan, the mayor put far more emphasis on cutting down on the city’s bureaucracy to maximize overall housing construction – with a goal of building 500,000 new units over the next decade,” explains Stark Miller.

By comparison, the Planning and Land Use Toolkit “focuses on ramping up the amount of community engagement, which could ultimately lengthen the time it takes projects to move through [the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure].”

Monday, December 19, 2022 in Brownstoner

Young Professional

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban and Environmental Planner

Get top-rated, practical training for planners

"Planetizen federal action tracker" logo superimposed over black and white image of US Capitol dome.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

23 minutes ago - Zachary Whalen

Overlapping highways

The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin

People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.

September 8, 2026 - Benjamin Schneider

The Hoover Dam blocking the Colorado River. The river's water level is noticeably low. The cliffs surrounding the blue water are brown and jagged.

US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico

A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.

September 11, 2026 - The Arizona Republic

NYC Mayor Zohran Mandami speaks behind a blue podium.

Mamdani overhauls NYC's Vision Zero plan with 100 new policy goals

The overhaul aims to reduce traffic deaths and make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers through lower speed limits, new safety infrastructure and more.

15 minutes ago - ABC 7 Eyewitness News

A New Jersey train approaches people waiting at the station.

Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds

A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.

September 15 - Mass Transit

A tall, gray power plant billows smoke into a blue sky.

EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants

Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.

September 15 - New York Times

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.